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Barney Wood, told us about his
grandfather, Robert Goose, who had made and played dulcimers around
the turn of the twentieth century. Goose had been born in Norwich but the
family moved to London when he was young. He came back to Norwich and by
1881 was apprenticed to a coach builder, a trade he pursued for the rest of
his working life, and which clearly gave him the skills necessary to build
dulcimers. He worked for about twenty years in Norwich but by 1901 he had
moved to Watford where he lived the rest of his life.
He told his grandson that his own dulcimer had five courses, but those he
made for others had three or four. He made them as a hobby - he worked for
Scannells making carts. He made a lathe for turning bridges and some of the
instruments he made were quite decorative. He sold some to other people. By
the time Barney started to take an interest in the dulcimers, Goose was
already in his eighties. Barney estimated that Robert Goose was active in
making dulcimers between 1880 and 1920 and recalled that he used to sit in
his workshop and play and that the lathe and the strips of bridges made on
it were still there with other bits and pieces which hadn't been touched for
ages. Barney knew that his grandfather had kept a note of ‘hours worked etc.
income etc’ relating to his dulcimer making, but the notebook hasn’t turned
up yet. Barney's own dulcimer was made by his grandfather and has five
strings to a course – the whereabouts of the instrument are currently
unknown.
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